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Man City 7, Stoke City 2: Big-match verdict

He was technically available again in time to take on Preston on February 4, but he had still not turned up by February 9, probably the last time that he was mentioned in a positive light during his time at the club.

Sam Bangoura makes his Stoke City debut at Derby on October 15, 2005.

Then aged 23, the Sentinel revealed he had been subject of a £2.75m bid from Russia – which had been turned down by Stoke chairman Gunnar Gislason.

Manager Boskamp was pleased about that … so long as he could track down his star man.

"It is three times more than we paid for him a few months ago but the main thing is we want to keep him," he said.

"I drove past his house on Tuesday night and the lights were on, so I don't understand (why he hasn't appeared at training).

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Bangoura's two agents visited the Britannia Stadium, discovering he was to be fined two weeks' wages for his no show.

Defender Clint Hill would have preferred to have been repaid in goals. Stoke had not scored in the league since Bangoura's final game before jetting off on January 2.

He said: "I can't believe Sammy. He's supposed to be a professional footballer and he owes us a big one. We need his goals. He's got to repay the faith we've shown in him."

Stoke would not manage to find the net in the league again until February 25 and Bangoura would only score one more time in a further 15 outings in a Stoke shirt, in a 4-1 win at Ipswich in the dying embers of Boskamp's time in charge.

He finally left for Boavista for £270,000 in the summer of 2007 … still owing former friend and strike partner Mama Sidibe £2,000 into the bargain.